Oliver & S Fieldtrip T-Shirt and Sunny Day Shorts

As part of my mission to replenish the Child's empty wardrobe I have made her a few new things recently.  She is short of everything at the moment and it is a bit hard to know where to start but since I made her a new dress earlier in the month I decided to go for some more casual things.  For all three items I used Oliver & S patterns which I cannot recommend enough.  The instructions are brilliant, the drafting is brilliant, they are just brilliant!  I don't have a lot of them but the ones I do have I tend to used a lot to get my monies worth. 

When we moved house in May I discovered bags and bags of things which I thought had been taken to a charity shop five years ago.  I was having a quick look through last week and found a few of my old dresses and trousers with plenty of life left in them so decided to start with a dress and turn it into a pair of shorts.  I used the free Sunny Day Shorts pattern which I used last year using a pair of my Mum's old trousers for the fabric.  This time I made a size bigger (size 5) and didn't bother to alter the pattern at all (no pockets - yay no sticky mess in the washing machine!!).  The only thing I did was to add the original bow from the front of the dress.  This pattern is so brilliantly straight forward but so useful, I said last time I would make loads of these and I really would, if I was a less selfish individual!  As it is I will probably make enough clothes so she has something to wear then get back to sewing for me!

I also made her a couple of new tops using the Oliver & S Fieldtrip T-Shirt pattern.  I bought this pattern as a single (rather than buy it with the cargo trousers which I just cannot see me making any time soon).   For my first one I used some really cheap jersey of questionable quality just to gauge the size.  I have used this jersey on a few other projects now and although it isn't great, it should hold up for enough washes and wears until she grows out of it.  To add a bit of interest I added a heart appliqué to the front and used yellow for the neckband.  I shortened the sleeves to t-shirt length and on the whole I am really happy with the top, I am not so happy with the lack of stripe matching but you can't win at everything!

For the second version I used some pirate sweatshirting that my Mum recently bought back from Switzerland.  She bought a half a metre and there was only a small scrap left over at the end (which I used to make a matching jumper for Edwina!).  I added a waistband and cuff bands to this to make it look more like a sweatshirt.  The jersey I used for the bands also came from my Mum, the rest of which is destined to be a top for me!

The Child ended up wearing her new outfit all weekend, firstly for fabric shopping in Walthamstow Market on Saturday (where we coordinated nicely!) and then for a beach trip on Sunday for Fathers' Day.  I can see these clothes getting a lot of wear this summer, especially if I don't get a wriggle on and make some more things!  Yesterday marked the start of the summer Kids Clothes Week which Zoe has written about.  I have signed up for the first time, I don't know how I will get on with following the travelling theme but I do plan to try and sew for an hour a day - except yesterday because I was really tired after a trip to the beach with the Guides!  Not a good start but I plan to make up for it today...

Edwina sunbathing!